Breaking the Ice
and Previewing the Course
Dan Segrist
Department of Psychology
x3159
dsegris@siue.edu
The Icebreaker
What do I want it to do for my class?
 Allow students to get to know each other
 Initiate a sense of collegiality/community in
the class
 Set precedent for active learning and
engagement
 Have fun!
Corpus Callosum
Corpus Callosum
Actor-Observer bias
Actor-Observer bias
30
30
Freud
Freud
5-9
5-9
Visual cliff
Visual cliff
Pick a slip of paper out of the fishbowl
Find the one other student in the class with
the same term
The Interview
Students in pairs or triads
Interview one another for about 10 minutes
The Interview
 Name
 Hometown
 Major
 Hobbies
 Favorite Color
Important caveat—
don’t disclose
anything you’d
prefer not to
disclose
 Favorite Book or Movie
 Favorite Singer or Musical Group
 First word or phrase that comes to mind when
you hear “Psychology”
Introducing…
Students stand and introduce their partner to
the class
Corpus Callosum
Corpus Callosum
Actor-Observer bias
Actor-Observer bias
30
30
Freud
Freud
5-9
5-9
Visual cliff
Visual cliff
The Interview
 What does your term/statistic mean?
 How does it relate to this class?
Corpus Callosum
Corpus Callosum
Actor-Observer bias
Actor-Observer bias
30
30
Freud
Freud
5-9
5-9
Visual cliff
Visual cliff
The Icebreaker
What else it can do for my class…
 Preview course content, provide “teasers”
and address misconceptions
 Reinforce the vocabulary of the discipline
 Can provide some informal data about
students’ pre-existing knowledge
Modifications

Use in first or second class
Modifications
If class is large or time is short,
randomly select pairs/triads

Modifications
Alter interview questions to fit your
class topic or level

 What disorder are you most interested
in learning about?
 What do you remember most about your
undergraduate Statistics course?
 What is your biggest concern/fear about
starting a graduate program?
Modifications
Create fishbowl items using numbers
or terms related to your syllabus policies

 “2” [the number of unexcused absences you allow]
 “November 11” [due date for research paper]
 “Yes” [the standing answer to the question, “I
wasn’t here last time, did we do anything important?”]